Mountain Top Mystery
Summary Grandfather and the children were eating lunch one day early in the summer, when Benny mentions that a couple of summers ago, they were going to go rock climbing but they visited Aunt Jane instead. They decide to climb Flattop Mountain the next day. They leave early in the morning and drive to the general store at the base of the mountain. Buying supplies at the general store they start the hike up the mountain on the only trail up or down. They eat half of their lunch halfway up the mountain. Reaching the top, they start a fire to cook the rest of lunch. They cook a lunch of hamburgers and bacon and start to leave. Benny is the first to start down the steps leading to the top when the rock broke away from the mountain starting a rockfall and leaving Benny holding onto Henry’s hand. They pull Benny back onto the top of the mountain put they are stuck there overnight as there is no other way down. A helicopter drops off sleeping bags for them, but no food. They decide to eat the leftovers from lunch for breakfast the next day. During the night they see a faint light in the woods and Benny mentions that he saw a hole in the mountain when the step fell away. In the morning the mountain top was covered in fog, but the fog lifted early in the morning. The helicopter arrives with John Carter and picks up Benny, Jessie, and Henry, coming back for Grandfather and Violet. When they pick Grandfather and Violet up they see the hole Benny was talking about. At the general store they ask about light and are told that an old Indian woman by the name of Lovan Dixon, she is the last of her tribe. She tells them a story about a cave in Flattop Mountain that is said to contain treasure belonging to the tribe that was given to them by a French nobleman, but an earthquake closed the cave off, she thinks that the hole Benny revealed is the backdoor to the cave. They decide to stay in the area for a couple of days to investigate the hole in the mountain. Grandfather sends for Dr. Perry Osgood a friend of his who is a geologist in the area. At the motel, they quickly shower, nap, and eat dinner. Two men arrive at the hotel during the night but they are unaware of them. At breakfast they are surprised by John Carter. He shows them the newspaper headline of their rescue and that Dr. Osgood had arrived. Over breakfast they discuss the plans for the mountain. A staging will be constructed over three days, so they have safe access to the cave. After breakfast they hike back up the mountain, and they see an Indian boy at the base of the mountain. Dr. Osgood inspects the hole and says that the cave is worth exploring and John Carter arrives at the top with lunch for everyone. They discuss the Indian boy but no one knows anything about him. They tell Dr. Osgood about Lovan’s story and asked him where the leather bag would located, he thinks that it would be at the part of the cave they are currently exploring since it was the backdoor of the cave at the time. During lunch they discuss what the cave contains. Dr. Osgood tells them that the cave also contains fish fossils, indicting that the mountain was once under water. They leave since the weather looks like it going to storm. Back at the